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Major Navya Shekhawat of the Army Service Corps has become the first woman officer of the Indian Army to be appointed Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the President of India, serving President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
She is the second woman officer of the Armed Forces overall to hold the appointment, after Lieutenant Commander Yashasvi Solanki of the Indian Navy, who became the first woman ADC to the President in May 2025.
The President is assisted by five ADCs - three from the Army and one each from the Navy and the Air Force - who handle protocol at state ceremonies, investitures and diplomatic engagements.
Major Shekhawat entered the Army through the Combined Defence Services Examination, trained at the Officers Training Academy, Chennai, on the Short Service Commission women's non-technical course, and was commissioned into the Army Service Corps.
The appointment sits in a longer sequence that began with the first women officers commissioned through the Short Service Commission in 1992 and the Supreme Court's 2020 ruling that women SSC officers be considered for permanent commission on terms equal with men.
An Aide-de-Camp is a commissioned officer of the Armed Forces attached to a senior constitutional or military authority to manage protocol and personal staff work. The ADC coordinates schedules, meetings, official visits, ceremonies and communication, and ensures that military etiquette and protocol are correctly observed at state functions, investiture ceremonies and diplomatic engagements. It is not an entry-level posting: officers are selected internally on the strength of performance, discipline, conduct and suitability for ceremonial duty, generally after about five to seven years of service, and the tenure usually runs around three years. ADCs are recognisable in ceremonial dress by the aiguillettes, or gold shoulder cords, that mark the appointment. Besides the President, Governors are assisted by ADCs - typically one from the Armed Forces and one from the State Police - as are the Chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Simple Analogy: It is the uniformed equivalent of a chief of protocol and personal staff officer rolled into one, standing a pace behind the principal at every formal occasion.
The first batch of women officers is commissioned into the Indian Army through the Short Service Commission route.
The Supreme Court rules that women Short Service Commission officers must be considered for permanent commission on terms equal with their male counterparts.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi addresses the nation on Operation Sindoor, among the most visible public roles held by a woman Army officer.
Lieutenant Commander Yashasvi Solanki of the Indian Navy becomes the first woman officer appointed ADC to the President of India.
Major Navya Shekhawat becomes the first woman officer from the Indian Army appointed ADC to the President.
Article 53 of the Constitution vests the supreme command of the Defence Forces of the Union in the President, exercised in accordance with law - the constitutional root of why the President has service ADCs at all.
The 2020 Supreme Court ruling on permanent commission for women Short Service Commission officers is the doctrinal turning point behind the run of firsts that appointments like this one represent.
The logistics arm of the Indian Army, responsible for supply of rations, fuel and transport - Major Shekhawat's parent corps, and one of the arms opened to women officers early.
The President's official residence and the setting for investiture ceremonies, credential presentations and state banquets - the working environment of the ADC appointment.
GS Paper 2 > Constitutional bodies and the executive; GS Paper 1 > Role of women
General Awareness > Current Affairs: Appointments and Firsts
CDS/AFCAT General Knowledge > Armed Forces appointments and organisation
A commissioned Armed Forces officer attached to a senior constitutional or military authority for protocol and personal staff duties.
The gold shoulder cord worn in ceremonial dress that identifies an officer holding an ADC appointment.
A limited-tenure commission in the Armed Forces; the route through which women were first commissioned into the Indian Army in 1992.